<p>The number of companies operating internationally is growing constantly. The world is opening up for foreign firms and new destinations in the company´ business are increasing. Because of high competition the companies operating abroad are faced with a much larger task then before.</p><p>When going international the challenges the company must handle are new and unfamiliar. Obstacles the firm never faced before are becoming crucial in the every day work. Culture is one of these obstacles and can affect the entire co-operation.</p><p>Culture can influence the business in different ways. Language problems, pricing difficulties and culture collisions are not uncommon, especially in the beginning. The company must be able to handle these difficulties in a way that is satisfying also for the other part. Mistakes can be difficult to correct and disrespect for the foreign culture can destroy the entire operation.</p><p>There are some general advices the company always must have in mind before and during a co-operation on the international market. It is important, even before entering the foreign country, to inform the personal about the manners and customs in that new culture. If the first impression becomes negative, this can be hard to shake. Foreign cultures have different ways of doing business, for example when it comes to planning ahead and keeping delivery times. Culture can be both a positive and negative influence and many companies are struggling in the new and foreign environment.</p><p>The important thing to always have in mind is that the foreign culture is not as we are used to at home and to be prepared before starting the new foreign operation. Respecting and understanding the new culture without forcing our own beliefs on people, are things that can be extremely helpful to consider. By learning the host country’s language, can respect and trust more easily be won, and competitive advantages can arise.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Universität Fridericiana zu Karlsruhe, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [171]-183).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

In order to improve international student enrolment, universities have to tackle challenges of ensuring satisfying experience of enrolled international students that is perceived to greatly impact future recruitment. Accordingly, this research aims to provide valuable insights into Chinese international students’ cultural identity conflict that hinders their obtainment of a positive overseas experience. An online survey assessing a range of predictors of cultural identity conflict involving personality traits, ethnic and host cultural identity strength, intergroup factors and strategies of negotiating ethnic and host cultures, and how identity conflict and various identity negotiation strategies influence intercultural competence, was distributed to the entire pool of Chinese students enrolled in a New Zealand university and an Australian university. A total of 255 students completed the survey. Multiple regression analysis revealed that conscientiousness, secure attachment, commitment to ethnic identity, low perceived discrimination, easy access to academic activities with host students significantly protected Chinese students from experiencing cultural identity conflict, whereas preoccupied and fearful attachment, assimilation strategy increased the risk of identity conflict. Additionally, Alternation between cultural demands as one of variations of integration strategy was surprisingly found to exacerbate identity conflict and led to lower levels of intercultural sensitivity, while the other variation, blending strategy significantly resulted in greater intercultural sensitivity. Managerial implications for educational institutions were discussed based on these results. To advance this field of study, limitations of the current research and future research avenues were also presented.

In consumption goods markets, we observe both bargaining and searching. However, in this literature, very little work has been done to incorporate both features into one model. This study addresses this problem. In my first chapter, I add a bargaining parameter to a traditional sequential search model and solve for the new equilibrium in this set-up. Then, I do some comparative statics, changing the distribution of the bargaining parameter to see what happens to the equilibrium. Finally, I use the model to explain two seemingly contradicting empirical works in the literature of discrimination in the auto market. Ayres and Siegelman (1995), using data they collected from a controlled experiment, found that the initial offers for the minorities are higher. Yet Goldberg (1996), using consumer expenditure survey data (CES), reported that there is no significant difference between the final prices for minorities and non-minorities. My model reconciles these two results and shows that if minorities have a more dispersed bargaining parameter distribution and if the final transaction prices are the same at the mean level, then the initial offer distribution for the minorities first-order stochastically dominates that for the non-minorities. In my second chapter, I investigate how the bargaining process affects firms’ offer distribution and thus the final price distribution. Based on Varian (1980), I add a bargaining parameter into the model, and solve for the new equilibrium in this set up. Then, I do some comparative statics, changing the distribution of the bargaining parameter to see what would happen to the equilibrium. This model yields the same results as the first chapter. In the third chapter, I applied my theoretical model to the automobile market, and empirically test the model. I used CES data, and my findings support the theoretical model. The minority dummies are not significant in determining the mean level of consumers’ bargaining ability distribution, but are significantly positive in determining the variance of the distribution. / text

Persuasion scholars have documented the use of compliance-gaining messages in both negotiation and negotiation. The extant research offers suggestions for litigators and negotiators, but fails to compare the methods of persuasion in the two circumstances in order to advise attorneys and clients which communication messages to employ in the different contexts. The present study explores differences in use of 7 common compliance-gaining message strategies (“It's Up To You”, “This Is The Way Things Are”, “Equity”, “Benefit (Other)”, “Bargaining”, and “Cooperation”; Kellerman, 2004) in separate negotiation and litigation cases. Findings indicate that “This Is The Way Things Are” messages were more frequent in litigation than negotiation, but “Cooperation” messages were more common in negotiation than litigation. No other significant differences in strategy frequency across the different contexts were found. These results indicate that some differences exist between the messages used in negotiation and litigation and that future research should investigate what other messages may be used differently in the two contexts. / text

This paper investigates the influence of two representative other-regarding preferences on specified issues. The first chapter studies the preferred tax rate and labor supplies of voters in the presence of income inequality aversion in a two-stage redistribution game. The two-stage redistribution game consists of a first stage in which voters vote for a flat tax rate on income with the revenues redistributed evenly and a second stage in which workers, who are also voters, provide the labor supplies with the tax rate given. I specify inequality aversion preferences into two ways: The payoff inequality aversion represents people's preference to divide their material payoff evenly, and the income inequality aversion represents people's preference to divide their income evenly without considering their efforts to earn that income. In conclusion, payoff inequality-averse workers provide the same labor supplied as a worker who does not have any inequality aversions (a standard worker) but prefers a higher tax rate to a standard worker. The income inequality-averse workers, first, provide their labor supply considering their positions in a skill distribution and, therefore, adjust their labor supply such that the income curve becomes flatter. High-skilled workers tend to earn less income, while low-skilled workers tend to earn more income. Second, the income share of the richest decreases with the degree of inequality aversion up to a point. Third, inequality-averse workers do not necessarily prefer a higher tax rate to a standard worker, mainly because some level of income inequality is already self-adjusted in the second stage. The second chapter looks at how reciprocal preferences influence coalition size in international environmental agreements. Reciprocal preferences represent how a decision maker gains an additional positive utility when it responds to a kind action with a kind action or to an unkind action with an unkind action. I incorporate reciprocal preferences in a two-stage game that predicts the decision of each government to participate in an agreement that decreases pollutant emissions. The main result shows that bigger coalition forms than the standard preference does not include reciprocal preferences. Reciprocal governments that participate in the treaty (signatories) suffer from unkindness based on pollution by non-signatories so that the threat to retaliate by polluting becomes credible. Then, free-rider governments (non-signatories) on the margin surrender to the implicit threat and participate in the treaty. Furthermore, including reciprocity reverses the usual result that there is an inverse relationship between the marginal benefit and coalition size. In other words, the size of coalition increases with the marginal benefit of abatement in an equilibrium when the reciprocal sensitivity is sufficiently high. Signatories are more likely to retaliate against non-signatories because the benefit to non-signatories of refraining from decreasing emissions aggravates the unkindness to signatories.

The goal of this inductive study was to identify factors that facilitate and inhibit binational collaboration in the recovery of endangered species in the northern Mexico borderlands, focusing on the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi). A conceptual model was developed using qualitative techniques, providing the basis for design of a mail survey. The target population included participants with experience in recovery efforts for over a dozen species at risk in the region. Long interviews were recorded with 44 participants from Mexico and the United States. Thematic hierarchical analysis was used to develop a conceptual model of how interviewees talked about factors influencing binational collaboration. Issues were classified in five thematic clusters: project, organization, people, resources, culture/history. The survey was used to conduct a needs assessment, measuring respondents' attitudes about the relative priority of issues identified in the conceptual model. High priority needs were identified from each thematic cluster: (a) equitable participation in project design and implementation, (b) continuity of personnel, (c) coordination of federal, state and local efforts, (d) increased funding, managed with accountability, and (e) exchange visits to facilitate understanding of diverse perspectives. Responses to almost half the survey items indicated accord among the sample of respondents, providing a basis for shared common ground. The nature of discord was within the range of "manageable", with no clear polarization of attitudes measured. This exploratory data analysis suggested that the structure of the conceptual model developed from the Mexican wolf case study was generally a valid basis for future deductive analysis and reflection by practitioners. For 82% of 22 statements of need, priorities of participants in the Mexican wolf recovery efforts did not differ significantly from other respondents. Nationality (of respondents) significantly affected priority rankings for only 18% of the need statements. Significant effects of five demographic variables indicated that interactive effects should be examined in future multivariate analyses to determine how respondents' attitudes on issues related to priority rankings. Recommendations were provided for a more efficient and effective approach to collaborative problem-solving, engaging reflective practitioners from the private and public sectors in principled negotiation processes to better understand diverse perspectives.

Cloud services are Internet-based IT services. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) are three representative examples. As the cloud market becomes more open and competitive, Quality of Service (QoS) will be more important. However, cloud providers and cloud consumers have different and sometimes opposite preferences. If such a conflict occurs, a Service Level Agreement (SLA) cannot be established without negotiation. To allow service consumers to express their QoS requirements, and negotiate them with service providers, we argue for cloud service negotiation. It aims to establish and enforce SLAs for cloud services. Specifically, we study how to measure, negotiate, and enforce QoS requirements for cloud services, and so formulate three research problems, i.e., QoS measurement, QoS negotiation, and QoS assurance. In terms of its scope, the topic covers business side automated negotiation and technical side resource allocation techniques. As a result, it has a potential impact on cloud service adoption. To address QoS measurement, we initiate a quality model named CLOUDQUAL for cloud services. It is a model with quality dimensions and metrics that targets general cloud services. CLOUDQUAL contains six quality dimensions, i.e., usability, availability, reliability, responsiveness, security, and elasticity, of which usability is subjective, whereas the others are objective. To address QoS negotiation, we present a mixed negotiation approach for cloud services, which is based on the “game of chicken”. In particular, if a party is uncertain about the strategy of its counterpart, it is best to mix concession and tradeoff strategies in negotiation. In fact, the mixed approach, which exhibits a certain degree of intelligence, can achieve a higher utility than a concession approach, while incurring fewer failures than a tradeoff approach. To address QoS assurance, we propose a QoS-driven resource allocation method for cloud services. It can meet users’ QoS requirements while minimizing resources consumed. Especially, to honor a QoS specified in a SLA, we develop QoS assurance mechanisms, and determine the minimum resources that should be allocated. As a result, the method makes both technical and economic sense for cloud providers. / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2014-02-20 14:26:06.616

Negotiation poses a unique challenge in the modern workplace which is likely to be especially difficult for socially anxious individuals. Previous research has shown that externally focused attention strategies are useful at alleviating social anxiety symptoms and in helping improve negotiation outcomes; however this intervention has never been examined amongst socially anxious negotiators. This study examined the effect of external- and self-focused attention manipulations on anxiety, perspective (observer-field), and monetary negotiation outcomes. Thirty-eight high social anxiety (HSA) and 52 low social anxiety (LSA) female participants completed a dyadic negotiation simulation with a partner. The external-focus manipulation was successful at increasing attention focus in the desired direction, while the self-focus manipulation was not and, thus, was discarded from subsequent analyses. Results demonstrated that externally focused attention resulted in significant decreases in state anxiety during the negotiation and a significant shift in perspective from observer to field, for participants in both the HSA and LSA groups. However, these changes did not translate into better objective negotiation performance, as measured by the total commission (i.e., money) earned. The implications of the results for social anxiety and the development of workplace intervention programs are discussed.